Magyar News, 1998. szeptember-1999. augusztus (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1999-01-01 / 5. szám
This edition presents the history of Hungarian spirits and their roles in folklore. It is obvious after Adam Maurizio's research that the ancient method of distillation was known by the so-called aborigines. Folklorists found evidence of primitive types of brandy producing among the relatives of the Hungarians (some Finno- Ugrian folks) last century. Among the Hungarians the first data referring to spirit in the Carpathian-Basin comes from the 14th century. This was the so called aqua vitae which was used for medical purposes by distillation of wine. The earliest spirit was the hard wine (égettbor) which was made from skins of pressed grapes, lees or wine. It is mentioned that in the 15th century brewings were made of brandy and spirits from com. The earliest Hungarian term for the spirituous liquid was hard wine, the word brandy (palinka) lias become used later, in the 17th century. It is a Slavic loan-word. We probably needed a new naming since a brandy made of com appeared, that had mostly Northern origins (German, Polish or Russian). Later on brandy - the loan-word - was to be used referring to any kind of spirits made either from grapes, fruit or com (or other). The famous Hungarian fruit brandy appeared in the 16-17th century. At the beginning brandy was a kind of medicine then it became a luxurious drink. During Feudalism the landowners had a good profit from brandy making, sometimes they prohibited, sometimes restricted it only. Making schnaps has been taxed since 1849. In the second half the 19th century there was a busy schnaps-making life: this was the so called copper period, of which the famous product was apricot brandy from Kecskemét (Kecskeméti kisüsti barackpálinka). In Hungary there are nearly one thousand village breweries where people can distillate their mash. In addition to this lots of people try distillation illegally at home. Brandy is made from wild berries (for example: cranberry, elder, juniper; blackthorn, comer, mare, also lees “seprő”), wine and fruit (apple, apricot, chatty, strawberry, pear, sour cherry, raspberry, plum) and mixed fruits. In poor periods or during wars they used different raw materials like: maize and rye. Recently, the use of sugar is widespread, especially in Bács-Kiskun county (illegally) where artificially flavoured brandy is produced. Mash making and fermentation is done in cellars or around the house by the peasants. Hermetic barrels are opened only at the time of distillation. The tradition of the old, primitive domestic fermentation is still alive today in Hungary, in towns they make spirits by pressure cookers. In Dunántúl (this is the Western part of the country) people make distillers from a boiler, a basin and a copper tube for fruit brandy. On the Great Plain spirits are produced by using prohibited gas boilers, made by tinsmiths. Traditional stocking places for schnaps are wooden barrels and pitchers. They keep the daily portions in bottles. Brandy drinking is getting heavier and heavier among Hungarians. The wine drinking Hungarian nation is becoming a brandy drinking one, in 1983 we were in second place behind East Germany in the consumption of spirits per head, (the third was Poland, the fourth was Czechoslovakia, the fifth was the Soviet Union). An everyday occasion for schnaps drinking is after breakfast or getting up (we have got a greeting as well: Good Morning everybody with brandy! That is: Pálinkás jó reggelt!), and also before meals when drinking a whole liqueur glass of it. Folk traditions, folk festivals and feasts are famous for brandy drinking. Schnaps is a kind of medicine as people believed. It was offered against almost all kinds of diseases, especially stomach problems, anorexia, rheumatism, and high blood pressure. Not only in its natural form but altogether with curative plants and pieces of fruits. These are the so called medical brandies (ágyaspálinka, gyógy pálinka). Hungarian village people are not drunkards of course, they always know where to stop. Drunkenness begins with losing self control and finally ends in casting out by the others. In the old days at the countryside there were neither drunken people nor abstainers, to tell the truth. Women only drank a thimbleful of sweet brandy. This is a summary of Dr. Géza Balázs' book “The Hungarian Brandy” published in Hungarian. NORWALK MONUMENT SHINES IN HUNGARY Every year Hungarians from our area gather on October 23 in Norw alk at the Hungary 1956 monument to remember the historical time and to pay tribute to the martyrs who gave their lives for the homeland. Unfortunately our monthly publication can not report on events when they happen but some events are worth mentioning even at a later time. This is one of them. The Hungarian Committee of Norwalk sponsored a Wreath Laying Ceremony at the monuent. The president of the organization, Mary Kocsis, recalled the revolution that happened fortytwo years ago. Then she was a third year medical student in Szeged at the University. After going through the hardships that a refugee has to encounter, she ended up becoming a certified public accountant. Now she lives in Westport. Margaret Fekete Csóványos read her poem “Triumphant Page 6 Defeat”. This poem was published in The Hour in November 1956. Her faith in the revolution was justified. The revolution though defeated, after many years was truely triumphant when the Soviet finally collapsed. The Norwalk monument has significance that travels across countries. In Miskolc, Hungary, they opened a museum with the permanent collection of the artist Lajos Szalay. He created the Hungaty 1956 Relief commissioned by the Hungarian Committee of Norwalk. Since, György Sümegi, Art Historian and department head at the cultural Ministry in Budapest, obtained a cocpy of the relief and made it available to the Szalay exhibit. On October 21 with a appropriate ceremony they opened the museum László Papp from New Canaan, president of the Western Region of World Federation of Hungarians represented the American Hungarians and on behalf of the Norwalk community presented the copy of the Hungary 1956 monument. Mary Kocsis speaking at the monument
